IT was at Pittodrie that Michael Beale had his maiden taste of Scottish football at close quarters, and it was quite the first impression. The ball took an age to hit the deck. And when it did, the player who received it soon followed.
That frantic fixture as Steven Gerrard’s assistant in his first competitive domestic game as Rangers manager has lived long in Beale’s memory, and rather set the tone for what has followed in the years since.
Alfredo Morelos was dismissed, James Tavernier scored a penalty, before Bruce Anderson scored a stoppage time leveller to cap off an instant opening day classic.
As he prepares to take Rangers back to the same venue this afternoon under his own steam as manager, Beale is expecting nothing less than a repeat of that fiercely contested encounter that first sparked his love affair with his club, and with the Scottish game.
“I remember that game well,” Beale said.
“We took centre and then there was a long ball, a volley and a header. If you watch that game I think the next six things were in the air after the initial ball.
“I was thinking ‘what is going on here?’ and then when the ball is on the floor there is a yellow card. I thought ‘wow.’
“It also gave me an idea of the rivalry [between Rangers and Aberdeen] straight away. And ever since it has not let itself down.”
Beale’s first visit to Pittodrie this term with his team hardly disappointed either, with Rangers this time coming out on the right side of the stoppage time drama as an extraordinary ending to the match saw a Scott Arfield double snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
If past meetings are anything to go by then, a quiet Sunday stroll in the north-east probably isn’t on the cards today.
“When we went earlier in the season I thought we played well and then looked like we were heading for a 2-1 defeat,” he said.
“We won 3-2 and it is just as well we did because we had missed a few chances before that. We had just missed a huge chance through Scott Arfield.
“When we scored and we were drawing I was particularly angry, because it was the minimum that we should have got from the game over the whole game.
“We scored, and then it got into the ridiculous stage with the two goals so late, but the game is played for 90-plus minutes, so we shouldn’t be thinking we were lucky to get those goals.
“The game is played for that amount of time, and you have to play from the first to the last minute, and we did that.
“Maybe Aberdeen got a bit nervous with the result they had. We kept going and ultimately we got there in the end.
“We threw a few spanners in the works, we brought on Scotty and we had more strikers on the pitch. We played a bit reckless and ultimately it came off.
“In the semi-final they got their noses in front as well before we came back.
“I understand why there is a rivalry between the two teams.”
What Beale has learnt about this Rangers team from that game, and since he stepped into the dugout as his own man, is that they have a resilience about them that went missing at times towards the end of Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s reign as manager.
While he would have preferred them not to have had to come from behind quite so much as they have shown a knack of doing over the past few months, he says that their fortitude is an inherent quality that can serve them well at Pittodrie.
“It’s crazy isn’t it?” he said.
“A team that six months before had beaten Dortmund and Leipzig and got to the Europa League Final now lacks heart, doesn’t have this, doesn’t have that…
“It’s crazy the way the game can change overnight with players in my squad. We’re not the only club like that, but one week a player is a superstar and the next week he’s not.
“It’s the way of the water and it’s the culture that we have in and around our football.
“Since I’ve come back in, I think we’ve come from behind too often, but we have come from behind.
“I might say that we shouldn’t be going a goal behind, and someone else might say that the team showed great courage to come from behind.
“So, I probably have to PR it a little bit better myself sometimes.”
While Beale’s focus and that of his team has been mainly trained on Aberdeen this week, the Rangers manager is candid enough to concede that at least half an eye has wandered to next weekend’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic at Hampden.
He is hoping that a positive performance at Pittodrie can set his men up perfectly for the opportunity to salvage the last piece of silverware from an otherwise disappointing campaign overall, and he says it will afford a few of his men an opportunity to grab a jersey for that huge encounter at the national stadium.
“It’s a long 10 days if you are waiting for something to come,” he said.
“I think the game in-between really helps. It’s a bit like in the first part of the season, you don’t mind the midweek games, because it keeps the players bubbling and fresh.
“We know next weekend is a big game, and it has been a big game since we won the quarter-final, it has been there in the calendar.
“But what we have managed to do since I’ve come in, is in our league form, we have just played the game that is in front of us.
“There are three or four shirts up for grabs at the moment. For example, John Souttar has come into the team and performed quite well I think with Ben (Davies).
“So, that is a completely new partnership, I don’t think they had played together before last week. Neither of them want to lose their shirt, but Connor (Goldson) wants to come back in and play.
“Ryan Kent is out of the team at the moment, young Rabbi (Matondo) came on last week and got an assist, and these last seven games are hugely important for Rabbi because he has not been fit.
“Ridvan (Yilmaz) wants to grab the shirt from Borna (Barisisc), but Borna doesn’t want to give it up.
“So, there’s a little bit in the air, and if you give someone an opportunity, then now is the time to play well for sure.”
